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HERITAGE FORUM XVII:

TALK SHOW HOSTS SHARE OPINIONS ON ELECTION 2004

The 17th installment of TALKERS magazine's twice yearly talk media gathering was held October 3 at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC and clearly, the series is hotter than ever as a dozen leading hosts battled out their points of view on a wide variety of issues connected with the brewing election of 2004 before a packed auditorium.

Participants included (in alphabetical order): Shmuley Boteach, Talk America Radio Network; Chris Core, WMAL, Washington, DC; Monica Crowley, WABC, New York; Joseph Farah, Radio America; Dom Giordano, WPHT, Philadelphia; Thom Hartmann, i.e. America Radio Network; Laura Ingraham, Talk Radio Network; Rick Jensen, WDEL, Wilmington; Victoria Jones, Talk Radio News Service; Jeff Katz, WPHT, Philadelphia; Janet Parshall, Salem Radio Network; Mike Rosen, KOA, Denver; Doug Stephan, Stephan Productions; and Kirby Wilbur, KVI, Seattle. TALKERS magazine publisher Michael Harrison served as moderator.

Eclectic Group: Seen here enjoying a lighter moment at the TALKERS Heritage Forum are four of the dozen hosts who participated (l-r): WABC, New York's Monica Crowley; i.e. America's Thom Hartmann; Talk America's Shmuley Boteach, and Salem's Janet Parshall.

There is a perception among many talk radio professionals (not to mention the public and the mainstream media) that news/talk radio is across-the-board conservative and serves largely to affirm the socio-political beliefs already held by its audience. This installment of the TALKERS Heritage Forum showed that notion is, at best, oversimplistic and, at worst, dead wrong. This was illustrated by the different stances even generally like-minded conservatives took on the issues.

Joseph Farah is a talk host at Radio America in addition to being publisher of the Internet news site WorldNetDaily.com. He was incensed at the use of the conservative tag put on him. "As a newsman, I think we overuse labels. The conservative label doesn't apply to me. As newspeople we use labels to stereotype people and to dismiss what people have to say. A conservative in the old Soviet Union or in Communist China is a totalitarian. A conservative at The Heritage Foundation is someone who loves freedom."

KOA, Denver's Mike Rosen argued that political labels just need to be defined. "As long as we define terms I have no problem with labels. Most people who avoid labels are pretending to be something they are not, like liberals who masquerade as moderates. Labels have plenty of value but they also have limitations."

When the discussion addressed the 2004 Presidential Election, it became clear that even hosts who support George W. Bush had differing views on his strengths and weaknesses. KVI's Kirby Wilbur was frank about Bush's stance with hard-core Republicans. "George Bush's problem is going to be with the base of the Republican Party. I think he's good on the Iraq War and good on taxes but we've got some concerns over illegal immigration, spending is out of control, and he has not used the veto to control that. I hope Howard Dean is the Democratic nominee because he'll be the easiest to beat since he's mobilized the most liberal faction of that party."

WPHT, Philadelphia personality Jeff Katz (l) makes a point while WSBA, York program director Jim Horn (r) takes in the action.

The concept of morality is a staple of news/talk radio. Right-wing conservatives have long used the idea that public officials who are less conservative than they might be are, by their "liberal" nature, lacking in moral fiber. i.e. America's Thom Hartmann said he sees an interesting distinction with regard to the morality issue. "There's a pervasive notion in America that conservatives have 'claimed' morality. The issue here is that conservatives define morality as personal behavior - who's sleeping with whom? Liberals generally define morality as public behavior - 'Do we have hunger in the world?' 'Do people have enough clothing?' Both sides are equally passionate about what they call morality. A lot of people are comparing Arnold Schwarzenegger to Bill Clinton and I think it's important to remember that what Bill Clinton did was consensual, and what Arnold is accused of was not consensual and is closer to rape."

WDEL, Wilmington, Delaware talk host and program director Rick Jenson (l) takes a few heavy shots at Arnold Schwarzenegger while KVI, Seattle morning drive host Kirby Wilbur (r) looks on.

Salem Radio Network's Janet Parshall believes that, whatever one's opinion, the talk radio medium serves a great purpose in that it provides a forum for Americans to have these discussions. She said that since surveys show Americans have a negative opinion about politics, it's good for her as a talk host that people are eager to address these issues when put in the context of morality. "It's wonderful that with the accusations against Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Kobe Bryant case, what's percolated to the top is that talk radio is about morality and it is about inspiration. Whether you say, 'George Bush is bad,' that would be a moral position on your part. If you say, 'Howard Dean is good,' that would be a moral position. Politics as a subject has a bad reputation because talk listeners equate politics with the scandals that we're seeing and they say it's a messy pig fight and don't want any part of it. But if you speak to their hearts on issues, they come to the table."

Talk Radio Network star Laura Ingraham addresses the role of pop culture in setting societal values.

According to Talk America Radio Networks' Shmuley Boteach, it is that mudslinging and nastiness that takes away from the public discourse and he believes that talk radio often enables this behavior. "I think America is caught in a cycle of retribution. There don't seem to be a lot of issues that are divorced from personality. I believe that politics is about putting the public good before personal morality. I believe in conservative values more than liberal ones but I know our founders believed in a system of checks and balances. I don't want to see liberals in charge of foreign policy but I do want to see them scrutinizing conservatives in that realm. I've never seen a culture of satanization and demonization like we're seeing today and it's getting uglier."

The controversy over the CIA leak was a major story during the week the Heritage Forum was held. Accusations flew from each side of the political aisle regarding the blame for the public identification of a CIA operative. Democrats are charging it was political payback that drove the Bush administration to leak the name of the operative. Monica Crowley said that her time spent working with former President Richard Nixon taught her something valuable about damage control in these situations and offered advice to the Bush administration. "The president can keep it a minor story by getting in front of it and taking ownership of it. What we've seen in past presidents from Nixon to Clinton is the story getting away from them. Nixon once told me, 'Why did I go through the fire if nobody is going to learn from it?' It seems there is almost no learning curve in politics."

Talk Radio News Service managing correspondent Victoria Jones (l) used her well-honed news gathering and talk media skills to deliver a concise synopsis of the CIA leak story to the crowd wile KOA, Denver midmorning host and Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Rosen (r) listens.

Much of the debate involved issues and morality from the political perspective. Talk Radio Network's Laura Ingraham, who bills her program as being about politics, opened the eyes of the crowd with her statement that talk hosts often lose sight of the source of greater influence in American society. "Sometimes talk radio forgets the power of the culture. In Washington, we're all obsessed with politics because that's where we live. But, on the cover of Teen magazine is "How to Satisfy Your Boyfriend" and if you don't think that has more influence on young people than who becomes governor of California, then I submit you are very out of touch."

Doug Stephan (l), host of the nationally syndicated morning show, "Good Day" and the "Talk Radio Countdown Show" and Joseph Farah (r) of Radio America play active roles in the discussion.

The myriad opinions expressed during the 90 minute forum showed that issues-oriented talk radio is composed of a lively and diverse base when it comes to the hosts who work in the trenches and the issues they bring to the table. If the recent TALKERS Heritage Forum is truly an indicator, then from an ideological standpoint, the news/talk genre is a healthy one indeed!

TALKERS magazine wishes to thank the good folks at The Heritage Foundation for co-presenting this twice-yearly event since 1995. Although their mission is to proliferate conservative perspectives on the issues, Heritage has long been a good friend of talk radio, making their studios and research available to broadcasters of all political points of view.

For Prior Events' Coverage Click Here